MOHAMMED DANISH KHAN Vs. STATE OF TALENGANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition is filed by the petitioner - Mohammed Danish Khan challenging the proceedings No.A1/105/3166/Cyb/ 2020 dtd. 25/8/2021 passed by respondent No.2 - Cyberabad Police Commissionerate, Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad, Telangana as illegal, arbitrary and violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that he was initially granted arms licence in 2001 and the same has been renewed from time to time. The last renewal was till 10/11/2019. The petitioner is a Life Member of the National Rifle Association of India and has keen interest in the sport of shooting. He has no criminal record. He has applied for renewal of licence on 30/10/2019 as his licence was going to expire on 10/11/2019. On 10/9/2020, respondent No.2 had issued a show cause notice to the petitioner calling upon him to submit his explanation within a fortnight as to why his licence should not be cancelled. The petitioner has submitted his explanation to the show cause notice on 5/10/2020 inter alia stating that he has a petrol bunk in Nizamabad viz., Hindustan Auto Centre which he visits every week on the week end. Since the banks are closed on the weekends, the cash collected from the petrol pump will be with him as the same cannot be left in the petrol pump for safety and security reasons. The petitioner states that he stays at his farm house situated at an isolated place near Pocharam Village. In a recent incident, a petrol pump near Bodhan, which is close to the petrol pump owned by the petitioner, was attacked by masked robbers. The grievance of the petitioner is that without referring to his explanation and without affording any opportunity of hearing, his arms licence was cancelled by a cryptic order. Assailing the same, the petitioner preferred appeal under Sec. 18 of the Arms Act, 1959 before respondent No.1. Notice dtd. 3/3/2021 was issued by respondent No.1 calling upon the petitioner to appear along with his Aadhar Card, PAN Card, Income Tax Returns, Passport and any other relevant documents. The petitioner appeared for personal hearing on 3/3/2021 and advanced oral arguments. However, without considering the grounds raised by the petitioner, cryptic order was passed by respondent No.2 by adding an additional ground that the petitioner did not take part in any shooting competition for the past five (5) years. Aggrieved by the aforesaid orders, the petitioner filed W.P. No.8883 of 2021 for setting aside the Memo No.472/Arms/2021 dtd. 25/3/2021 whereby the proceedings No.A1/105/3166/Cyb/ 2020 dtd. 16/11/2020 were confirmed. The said writ petition was allowed setting aside the Memo No.472/Arms/2021 dtd. 25/3/2021 and the proceedings dtd. 16/11/2020 with the following observations:

(3.) Heard Mr. Zeeshan Adnan Mahmood, learned counsel for the petitioner, and learned Assistant Government Pleader, representing the learned Government Pleader for Home, and perused the material on record.